Ready or not

Hello friends. This week has been so crazy! Cleaning, organizing, cooking, preparing, packing, "laundry-ing".............we have a YL party tonight, Braylen's bday party on Friday, and we're leaving for Gatlinburg on Saturday morning. Could we pack anymore in?? Oh yes. Jess and Vince are coming home on Thursday! Yea! Lots of really fun things are happening. We are so grateful to share these memories with the people we love! I just finished creating Braylen's birthday video and will post it on youtube after we have his party. He is going to have so much! We are having an Elmo party and mom is making him an Elmo Birthday Cake! He calls it "mel-mo." So cute. I showed him a few "mel-mo" videos on youtube and now everytime I open the computer he says "mel-mo? mel-mo?" Hilarious.

Before the beginning of 2010, Guy and I sat down and wrote out a list of family/personal goals that we would like to accomplish. One of mine is to treat my position as a stay at home mom as an actual job. I wrote about it a little bit in this post. I have finally created an organized method for staying on top of chores and accomplishing things throughout the week, month, and year. I wanted to share it with you in hopes that you would join me in prioritizing our time in ways that is glorifying to God and helpful for our families.

I by no means have mastered this way of living. I am such a procrastinator and am not self-motivated. I just can't see the big picture! I live in comfort. So it is a struggle for me to stay on top of things. I am so thankful for God's grace (and my husband's).

The "method" is as follows-and was created by someone else! :)

I went and bought an index card box, index cards, and little dividers from Walmart. I titled the dividers like this: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, January, Feb, March, April and so on.

Here is what is behind each tab-and you can change yours to what is a priority for you:

Daily: (written on one index card)
1) Consider dinner preparations-thaw meat, etc
2) Make bed, tidy bedroom
3) Have QT
4) Sweep floor in dining room
5) Laundry-wash 1 load, dry, fold, put away
6) Maintain dishes
7) Check bank account
8) Workout
9) 1 hour work for Young Life (office stuff)-at least 3 times a week

Weekly: (one index card for every day)
Sunday-
Plan for the week
Plan meals and grocery list

Monday-
Gym
Grocery store
Dust living room and clean floors

Tuesday-
Gym
Dust bedroom and vacuum
Change sheets

Wednesday-
Gym
Clean up bathroom and empty trash
Organize bills and paperwork in office
Dust and swiffer office
Trash cans out to curb

Thursday-
Activity day with Braylen-Zoo, museum, library, etc
Sweep and swiffer kitchen, Dining room, hallway

Friday-
Gym
Craft activity with Braylen

Saturday-
Gym (if I can make it)
Dust, vacuum, organize Bray's room

Monthly: (one index card)
1) Organize hall closet
2) Clean out van
3) Clean out refrigerator
4) Organize paper work

Each month has a divider:
January:Clean medicine cabinet, toss expired meds
February:Clean hard to reach places-behind stove, sofa, fridge, etc
March: Organize basement and laundry
April: wash windows and screens
May: Organize pantry and kitchen cabinets
June: Wash comforters and blankets
July: Clean and organize basement and laundry
August: Clean out drawers and closets
September: Clean out linen closet
October: Defrost and clean freezer, fridge, stove
November: Dust inside China Cabinet
December: Turn mattresses over and vacuum furniture, drapes

Organization is the key to success

I had a middle school teacher who made us write "Organization is the key to success" on all of our folders. She was so right. :) I have found that if I do not have a list of things that I'd like to accomplish throughout the week, I completely slack off! Now that Braylen is taking 3-4 hour naps a day (I love that kid) it is really easy to be lazy during that time. There are so many things that I can do while he is napping. I found this blog by a very traditional, religious woman who had an awesome idea of how to organize your time as a stay at home mom. You can find her ideas by clicking here. I am going to start using her method and will let you know how it works!

Last night for dinner, I made Chicken Squares! I love this meal. My mom makes it a lot and I'm so glad that I have the recipe. It's so easy.

Chicken Squares

1 pound cooked chicken, shredded or cubed

3 ounces cream cheese, softened

Salt and pepper

1 can crescent rolls

3 tablespoons butter

Bread crumbs

1) Boil chicken for about 20 minutes until no longer pink. Shred or cube into bite size pieces.

2) Mix cream cheese with chicken and add salt and pepper to taste.

3) Roll out crescent rolls. Combine triangles to make a square (you will have 4 separate squares).

4) Add chicken mixture to square, roll up sides and pinch at the top to cover the chicken.

5) Melt butter, cover chicken square in butter and then roll in bread crumbs.

6) Cook at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Hope everyone has a great thanksgiving day! "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever." Psalm 101